Private Horace William Bevins, 2nd/5th Gloucestershire Regiment, died on 31st March 1918, aged 19. One of his older brothers, George Frederick, born 1896, had died in 1915, serving with the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Another brother, Albert Edward, born 1894, died on 17th November 1916.
29th March 1918
On 29th March 1918 Private Philip George Powell, 28th Battalion London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) died of wounds as a prisoner of war in Mons.
26th March 1918
Private Humphrey Walter Fitter was killed in action on 26th March 1918 serving with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. He was born in Tanworth-in-Arden in 1893 and was the only son of parents Humphrey Barratt Fitter (a carpenter) and Gertrude Elizabeth (née Clayton) who had married at Tanworth in 1890.
25th March 1918
Two local men lost their lives on active service on 25th March 1918. Fitter John Charles Clinton, “A” Battery, 84th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery and Private James Drew, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
24th March 1918
Sapper Harry Beacham, 126th Field Company, Royal Engineers, was killed in action on 24th March 1918. He was the eldest of three children and the only surviving son of parents Alfred (a bricklayer) and Emma (née Whitehead) of Allesley, Coventry. His younger brother, Walter, died in 1888, aged under one year. His sister, Dorothy (1891-1986) died at the age of 94.
23rd March 1918
Four local men were killed on 23rd March 1918:
- Private Sidney Bickley, 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment
- Private Clark(e) Middleton, 5th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry
- Private Harry Prentice, 11th Battalion, 11th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
- Private Albert White, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
22nd March 1918
Two local casualties lost their lives on active service on 22nd March 1918. Private Edward Vernon Barker, 10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and Private Joseph Beecham, 2nd/6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
21st March 1918
Nine local men lost their lives on the first day of the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael), which saw British troops subjected to one of the longest artillery bombardments of the war. Lasting for five hours from 4:20am, the barrage of over one million artillery shells smashed vital communication lines, and was followed by waves of elite German troops coming over No Man’s Land, which was shrouded in thick fog. The Germans made swift and significant gains, with the British suffering some 50,000 casualties. British troops were ordered to withdraw, giving up much of the Somme region. However, it was not a decisive defeat, and the British were able to establish new lines of defence, whilst the rapid advance caused German supply lines to become overextended. Continue reading “21st March 1918”
19th March 1918
Private (Acting Corporal) Arthur Llewellyn Cooper, 6th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds on 19th March 1918 after having been gassed. He was born in Acocks Green in 1897 and was the second of the three children of parents John (an upholsterer) and Mary Elizabeth (née Llewellyn) who had married in 1895.
17th March 1918
Second Lieutenant John Drummond Wyatt-Smith, 28th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, died in a flying accident in northern Italy, just a few days after joining the squadron. His plane stalled on take off, nose dived and then crashed to earth. Known as Jack, he was 19 years old, and was the second of two brothers to die on active service. His older brother, Hugh, died of appendicitis on 17th February 1916 after falling ill whilst on embarkation leave.
Solihull Life 